Partly as research for my novel, and partly just because I like them, I've been reading tons of fairy tales and folk tales lately. So I was kind of excited to see that a big-screen, Hollywood adaptation of Jack the Giant Slayer was in the works. But I should have figured that in the process of creating such a thing, they would have added all the typical big-screen, Hollywood trappings to the story. Corny catch-phrases, lame love story, overwhelmingly huge action set pieces, bombastic rhyming prophecies, tons of special effects. Oy. This trailer is just gross.

I never got into Lemony Snicket, but I've heard great things, and we do have a book we really like written and illustrated by Jon Klassen, so I'm curious about this book that the two of them are collaborating on, The Dark.

Fringe will have a fifth and final season that will wrap up the story. I haven't had a chance to watch this show at all for a while, but I'm glad it's going to get to have an ending. I'll definitely have to catch up one of these days.

Some pics from, and a new trailer for, Men in Black 3. I want to like this, because the original Men in Black is such a great movie, but... I just don't know.

Another movie I want to like is John Carter. You can watch ten minutes of it right here. I was hoping to be really impressed by this, but despite some clever moments (and an inspired choice of when to cut short the clip), I could take or leave this movie.

When I heard they were re-releasing the universally reviled Phantom Menace in theaters in 3D, I was really curious what kind of audience it would have. I mean, everybody says they hate this movie! Why would anyone pay extra to see it again in one more dimension than before? Then again, it's Star Wars. Star Wars has a certain cache. And nerds are famous for paying for things so they can then complain about them endlessly. Plus, there's the kid factor. Kids don't know they're supposed to hate The Phantom Menace. Well, looks like the nerd and kid factors won out, because the 3D version made $73.4 million in less than two weeks and pushed the movie's overall box office total over the billion dollar mark to make it the 11th highest grossing film of all time. Wow.

Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

You can stream Sinead O'Connor's new album, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? (which is a great title, btw), in its entirety on NPR. I'm not really too familiar with her work, but I enjoyed large portions of this one. Although the last track is crazy overdone and melodramatic. (Via)

About
Welcome to the blog of Jim Genzano, writer, web developer, husband, father, and enjoyer of things like the internet, movies, music, games, and books. For a more detailed run-down of who I am and what goes on here, read this.